West Metro Fire Rescue distributed its annual Report to the Community this week inYourHub.com.Have you had a chance to look through the Report? If you did, you may have noticed an error in the Financial Review section on the back page above
Fire Chief Doug McBee's report.
The Financial Review General Fund 2002-2007 Revenues and Expenditures shows that West Metro Fire is outspendingits revenue. Unfortunately, colors representing revenues and expenditures were inadvertently switched and now make the graph incorrect.
The Revenue line should reflect $47 million and the Expenditure line should be $44 million. (the correct chart is attached) . The text that accompanies the graph is correct. For questions or more information, please call 303-989-4307.
REVENUES
West Metro Fire Rescue had another strong budget year in 2007. General fund revenues totaled $47 million and year end expenditures finished at $44 million (audited numbers were not available at the time of this printing). By spending less than we brought in, West Metro Fire Rescue was able to achieve its two budget goals: 1) working within a balanced budget; and 2) rebuilding its emergency reserves. Over the past three years, West Metro has successfully
reversed a trend of deficit spending by replacing over $2 million dollars into the emergency reserve fund. That fund now totals over $11 million or 23% of revenues. This fund balance is vital to ensuring West Metro can continue service during years in which tax revenue growth may decline or is inadequate.
EXPENDITURES
West Metro operated under a balanced budget in 2007, despite increasing utility, fuel and personnel costs. We began implementing our plan to improve services as approved by our voters in 2006. This includes adding equipment and fire fighters, as well as making improvements to our fire stations. We were able to move our 911 dispatch center using the proceeds of the sale of our old administration building and we paid off our current administrative building and the property of our future fire fighter training center creating a significant savings we can now apply to operational costs. West Metro is committed to running a cost-efficient organization as we continue to move into the future.
For questions or more information, please call 303-989-4307.